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THE VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY COMMISSION
Part III comprises 20 maps of an official or semi-official char
acter, of which 12 are from manuscript originals not hitherto
published. The origin of these maps, their character and mean
ing are set forth by Professor Burr in a paper in volume 3.
In describing the atlas, we have in part anticipated the de
scription of volume 3, which is devoted to geography. It is an
octavo volume of 517 pages and contains 6 papers. The first is
by the secretary of the commission on the cartographical testi
mony of geographers. In its 80 pages the historical evolution
of lines showing territorial division are worked out with great
care, and the size of the paper inadequately measures the labor
needful to gather and arrange and clearly set forth and discuss
the facts therein contained.
The second paper is by Dr Justin Winsor, librarian of Har
vard College, and it deals with the same topics as the preceding
paper, but in a different manner. This paper was submitted to
the commission very early, its date being March 4, 1896, just two
months after the commission was appointed. The third and
fourth papers are by Professor Burr.
The fifth paper, entitled Notes on the Geography of the Ori
noco-Essequibo Region, South America, is by the present writer.
It consists of a prosaic compilation of statements made by vari
ous travelers and explorers in the region as to its geography,
with references, in foot-notes, to the sources of these statements.
All the geographic names found applied in the region, whether
now in use or not, were recorded in these notes, which are fully
indexed. Thus it is possible to proceed quickly by means of
the index and foot-notes to the original sources of geographic
information touching any part of the country described in these
notes.
The last paper in the volume is a partial list of maps of the
region, also prepared by the writer. It was hoped to make an
exhaustive list, but time did not suffice for this, nor for the
preparation of a bibliography of the region.
Volume 2 is given mainly to extracts from Dutch archives.
There are 353 of these extracts, comprising 662 pages. They
are printed in double columns, the original Dutch forming one
column and the English translation the parallel column. Some
miscellaneous manuscript documents, filed with the commission
by the government of Venezuela, close the volume.
Volume 1, first in order but last to be published, is now in
press and will shortly be published. It is to contain the report